meagerness definition |Dictionary.com

meager

4 dictionary results for: meagerness

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mea·ger

[mee-ger] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	deficient in quantity or quality; lacking fullness or richness; scanty; inadequate: a meager salary; meager fare; a meager harvest.

2.	having little flesh; lean; thin: a body meager with hunger.

maigre.

Also, especially British, meagre.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME megre < OF maigre < L macer lean

]

—Related forms

mea·ger·ly, adverb

mea·ger·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. See scanty. 2. gaunt, spare, skinny.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mea·ger also mea·gre (mē'gər) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.
Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain.
Having little flesh; lean.

[Middle English megre, thin, from Old French, from Latin macer; see māk- in Indo-European roots.]

mea'ger·ly adv., mea'ger·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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